Bechner preparing for role as Lady Rebels' libero

Len Hayward Midland Reporter-Telegram

Published 7:54 pm, Saturday, August 6, 2011

Ashley Bechner is well aware of the shoes she will have to fill as the libero for the Lee volleyball team this season.

Bechner, who is a three-year varsity player herself, has been a key back-row player for the Lady Rebels, but this season the senior will move into the libero spot that has been filled by last year’s 3-5A Defensive Player of the Year Jamey Lane.

It’s a move that Bechner was expecting to happen this season, but still it’s a transition that has also come along with becoming a team leader.

As Lee begins its season Monday in El Paso, Bechner said she still has some improvement to do both as a player and a leader, and she will use Lane as a model for her.

“I knew what was going on and I was trying to learn the spot,” said Bechner, who is one of seven seniors on Lee’s team this season. “(Lane) is really confident in what she did, and I don’t have that confidence yet completely. By the end of the year I will be OK.”

While Bechner said she still has to gain some confidence, Lee coach Diane Sandoval said that Bechner has similar skills to Lane and, most importantly, has the same competitiveness.

That competitiveness is big because with Lee’s lack of size, and this year, experience up front, how Bechner plays could mean the difference between winning and losing.

Bechner had a number of big digs last year as a defensive specialist along with Lane, and Sandoval is expecting a similar performance this season.

“She brings the same toughness and the same mentality,” Sandoval said. “She has high expectations for herself, and she literally thinks she can get to every ball.”

And getting to every ball is something that Bechner knows that she and her teammates on the back-row have to try to do this season.

Because of Lee’s lack of height, Bechner said there will be times that the hitters will be blocked and she has to be there to keep plays alive. Doing that could be enough to give the Lady Rebels’ offense a chance to score some points.

“When we do play people that have height and can reach over us, we have to be more on our toes and ready to go,” Bechner said. “Our hitters can adjust really well, though.”

Beyond the x’s and o’s aspect of the game, Bechner said her biggest transition has been being a leader. Sandoval, though, said that Bechner is realizing that its the back-row is now hers.

“She is having to learn, ‘Now it’s my turn to speak up,’” Sandoval said. “That’s the part she’s having to work on. The skill is there, the mentality is there, and it’s like I told her, ‘Remember you are in charge of that back line.’ We give our liberos the freedom that they need to talk to their back line, and if they think somebody is struggling they have the freedom to change. She’s learning to do that.”

WHAT TO EXPECT IN 2011: Much like last season, the Lady Rebels will have a small front line and defense will again be a hallmark of the team. Bechner will take over for Jamey Lane at the libero spot, while Kortni Edwards returns as the team’s most experienced setter. Johnson returns and will be a key contributor on the front line this year as senior Morgan St. John, who was an all-district selection this last two years, moved to Corpus Christi.